Today we’d like to introduce you to Zipporah Brice.
Zipporah , we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I moved to Alabama my senior year of high school .it was not easy being the new kid on your last year. And even being from Ohio, I was still not completely welcomed up north or down south. Would that being said I joined the cosplay community and found I really liked being in costume, but it still felt a little bit empty and then in my early 20s, I found you drag community. And then five years ago, I was offered a chance to try out being in drag. At night at the nick by Angel Face who opened my eyes to alternative drag scene. and two years later, I got my drag parent on who wholeheartedly took me under their wing and became one of my greatest confidence. Along with a new drag family who supports me in all my drag especially Robby wise with there amazing photography and Twhat Weiland always having a place for me At the Nick. And then this year I was asked to join live singing burlesque show originally called singing b’ strip, but now it’s called Hot Mic by Bella, Donna , and now hosted by Audrey Goode.
And even then when I’m not on stage I get to show off my fashion sense with my hand made jewelry and up cycled clothes. In my little side company Gothique Atelier . Along with the live painting I do as well.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It was definitely not an easy road at all .
I would say I did luck out with having an extremely supportive family. Especially of my mom Rev. Pamela Canzater sister Dominique Cheney. But as a black, plus size, queer, autistic, woman in the south you’re gonna have your struggles. And add major depression and severe anxiety on top. He just always see yourself second-guessing everything. Low confidence is your best friend so to speak and with that you say yes to so many things you end up going to some very dark places and being friends with some not so great people and at the time you’re thinking oh well that’s OK because you’ve been alone for so long and in your early 20s you’re making all these mistakes and doing some not so good things but at the time you thought it was OK cause your friends say it is but now that I’m 30 there’s a lot of things that I regret . And on top of that, a lot of things that happened while growing up, you can’t remember and you thought oh that’s normal. That turns out you have Tuama response of forgetting. And then that trauma spot of forgetting is starting to go into your 20s, so with all of that that turned into me using Tuama as my catalyst to what I put into my performances in my art. Cause how many people can say they were part of a small shooting, and then threatened to be shot another gear and then drugged multiple times and along with having quite a few moments of SA. And on top of all of that, been bullied from preschool all the way into college and even past college.. with getting death threats online and sometimes even in person. And yeah, all you can do is smile and keep moving forward. It’s hard.. and then you have the world already telling you you’re not good enough from being a big girl and then add being black autistic and queer on top of that that’s just so much but you have no choice but to keep moving forward even though each day that is harder and harder, but you can’t really tell anybody so you put into your art
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I specialize in drag and making jewelry. To be more precise, I specialize in alternative drag.. in Gothic jewelry. My Drag name is Zipporah Brice . I’m definitely known for my spooky glam look of drag and have been told that my specialty is telling a story in drag, making people feel things. and that in some of my drug numbers, I do get quite political. Do a lot of trauma numbers to the point I have to let the host of the show know to give a trigger warning. But am also known for my live singing as well and belting out each song I do. And the last thing I believe I’m known for is using a lot of blood on stage especially when I perform with my drag child Adonis Brice. I can say that i’m most proud of whenever I’m done performing. I always have someone come up to me and not just tell me how great my dragon is but to be on stage and have someone tell me how it’s so nice to see someone who looks like me on stage. Someone who is bigger and confident or someone who’s black and proud up there and they don’t have to feel like oh I’m supposed to stay in this one little box I can be multiple things and that always makes me wanna cry whenever someone tells me they see themselves on stage cause all I ever wanna do is just tell stories through my art and if anybody connects to it, that’s like the greatest compliment in the world .
We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you?
I would definitely say good luck would be being at the Nick in Birmingham.
At the right time and knowing the right people. And then being part of a community that’s so open minded and so welcoming.
It was definitely really good luck that I met Fran my drag parent. Who not only opened their arms to helping me and drag, but opened me to a drug family that I never knew that I needed. And not to mention when I was asked for to be part of my first performance at drag night at the neck by Angel Face, I was already a fan of theirs for years then we became friends and one day I get a message from them and they’re like hey I heard from our mutual friend. Jordan used to drag, and I only did it one night at that time and they put me on that stage and who knew that would turn into me becoming the spooky spooky undead Glamour of Birmingham. And the real funny part is some bad luck played into me getting into doing jewelry I hit a very low point I had a friendship and with someone I cared about very deeply. And drag was helping but not doing what it needed and one day I’m just scrolling through pictures and Instagram post and I see things about jewelry and then I’m thinking oh I’m gonna try that and I bought some supplies and started putting stuff together and one day I post a couple of those pictures of the things I did online and the next thing you know, I’m selling them all the time so it’s all just luck. You never know what’s gonna happen.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: Zipporah_brice and gothiqueatelier
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@bigblacktittygothgf26?_r=1&_t=ZT-9AjfVhs2xf3
